The Berkshires Blog

It’s Time to Picnic

With such beautiful weather, it’s the perfect time for a picnic. Throughout the Berkshires one can find unique delicious food at farmers markets, stores and farm stands.

Berkshire Mountain Bakery, in Housatonic MA, bakes a wide assortment of breads including a chewy Sunnyflax seed loaf, a mildly sour San Francisco loaf, spelt loaves with or without raisins, plus ciabattas with olives, cheddar cheese and jalapena peppers or chocolate. You can find their breads at the bakery and at farmers’ markets too. One unique treat is their Bread & Chocolate, which is a white-boule with Dark Callebaut Chocolate chunks.

Berkshire Organics, based in Dalton, provides everything you will need for your picnic at Tanglewood – breads and a variety of cheeses from local farms – if you go to the store on Thursdays and Fridays from 12 – 6 you can talk with a farmer and taste Maggie’s Round, feta, and Berkshire Bloom from Cricket Creek Farm, as well as local Rawson Brook goat cheeses, Maplebrook Farm’s ricotta, burratini, smoked mozzarella, and more. Plus Berkshire Organics carries the freshest locally grown peaches, berries, and melons. Gluten free crackers, organic chips and crackers, and organic drinks for the whole family.

Guido’s Fresh Marketplace based in Pittsfield and Great Barrington provides a wide selection of cheeses, fruit, cold cuts, artisanal breads. Both stores have grab and go delis. The Marketplace Specialty Foods in the GB store, offers prepared foods including sandwiches, inventive salads such as a curry chicken with raisins, a basmati and wild rice with cranberries, quinoa and edamame, corn and fennel, in addition to new twists on old fashioned favorites: cole slaw, tuna and colorful pasta salads.

The Berkshire Co-op Market in Great Barrington offers a salad bar so you can design a different picnic salad each time you go, or buy several of their prepared dishes: Sesame noodles, humus, avocado spinach dip, tabouli, vegetarian sushi, and poached salmon on brown rice.

A simple elegant way to go would be to leave it to Spirited in Lenox and buy their “Berkshire Picnic Summer Classic for Two”